Excerpts from a speech by President George W. Bush last week
Today we had a major victory to improve the health-care system in America. The United States Senate has joined the House of Representatives in passing historic reform of Medicare that will strengthen the system, that will modernize the system, that will provide high-quality care for the seniors who live in America. ...
We've got a great health-care system because of our docs - well-trained, decent, caring people who practice medicine. We've got a great health-care system because of our nurses who work hard to provide compassionate care. We've got the best research in the world. We're on the leading edge of change in America.
But we've got to keep the system vibrant. ...
In recent years, Medicare has not kept up with the advances of modern medicine. In other words, it hasn't met the trust that the federal government has promised to our seniors. Remember, when Medicare was passed in 1965, health care meant house calls and surgery and long hospital stays. And the system was designed to meet the health-care delivery systems of the day. Modern medicine today now includes preventative care, outpatient procedures, and at-home care.
Many invasive surgeries are now unnecessary because of the new prescription drugs that are being developed. Many Americans have coverage for these new forms of health care, and that's positive, and we need to keep it that way. Seniors who rely exclusively on Medicare do not have the coverage for many of the new treatments and do not have coverage for prescription drugs - in other words, medicine changed and Medicare didn't. And as of today, Medicare is changing.
Let me give you an example of the need for modernization. ... Medicare is willing to pay $28,000 for a hospital stay for ulcer surgery. They won't pay the $500 for the anti-ulcer drugs that would keep the senior out of the hospital in the first place. ... It doesn't make any sense to pay $28,000 at the end of the process, but not the $500 up front to keep the $28,000 from happening in the first place.
Medicare should cover medications to keep our seniors out of hospitals. The new bill does this. The important part of the reform is to recognize that medicine has changed. It will save our government and the taxpayers money by providing prescription drugs early so we don't have to pay for it in long hospital stays and invasive surgeries.
Most seniors have got some form of prescription-drug coverage from a private plan, and that's important. It's a fact of life here in America. Those plans, however, are becoming less available. We've got to make sure the private sector remains vibrant. The bill I'm about to describe to you does that.
Medicare was very slow to take advantage of new medical advances, besides prescription drugs. In other words, you had to go through a bureaucracy in order to get certain procedures covered. Bureaucracies don't move very quickly. They tend not to be very sympathetic organizations. They're not consumer-driven. They're process-driven. They're hidebound by rules and regulations. ...
The Medicare plan that I'm going to sign understands that a lack of competition meant that there was no real need to provide innovation. And so we're helping to change the system by giving seniors more options and more choices. ...
This new Medicare bill I'm going to sign says seniors are plenty capable of making choices themselves. ...
It's going to take a while for this piece of legislation to kick in. It's going to take about two years to get all the reforms in place. But within six months of the law being signed, our seniors will start to see real savings in health-care costs because seniors will be eligible for a drug discount card that will save them between 10 to 25 percent off their regular drug costs. And low-income seniors will receive up to $600 a year to help them with their drug costs in addition to the card. Their card will serve as a transition to the reforms that are inherent in the Medicare legislation.
When the full drug benefit arrives in 2006, all seniors will be eligible for prescription-drug coverage for a monthly premium of about $35. The result is that for most seniors without coverage today, the Medicare drug plan will cut their annual drug bills roughly in half. That's positive news for America's seniors. ...
Seniors with the highest drug bills will save the most. Seniors with the greatest need will get the most help. Low-income seniors will pay a reduced premium or no premium at all, and lower or no co-payments for their medications.
Under the new reforms, seniors, as I mentioned, will have choices. You see, some seniors don't want to choose, and I can understand that. ...
And so should seniors want to stay in traditional Medicare and receive a prescription-drug benefit, they will now be able to do so. That's one of the key reforms in the bill. But other seniors want to choose, they want to be able to make a selection based upon their own particular needs. Some might want protection from high out-of-pocket medical expenses. Some might want expanded coverage for hospital stays. Some might want to be able to pick a plan that better meets their own individual needs. Under this law, choices will be better available for our seniors, and that's an important part of reform.
Because, you see, when seniors, or any citizen, makes a demand, the system responds. If there is a demand-driven system, it means the doctor-patient relationship is going to be more firm, and it means people will have better choices to meet their own particular needs. Some seniors may want the coverage that comes with managed-care plans, Medicare-plus-Choice. ...
In other words, people will have more control over their health-care options, and health-care plans will start competing for their business, and that's positive - positive for the consumers, positive for the seniors of America.
There are other important reforms in this bill. When seniors sign up for Medicare, they will get a complete health examination, so that doctors can know their health needs from the start. We're finally beginning to focus on preventative care. It makes sense to include preventative care in any health-care reforms. And health-care providers here know that better than anybody.
The bill provides incentives for companies to keep the existing coverage they provide for senior retirees. There was some concern in Washington - a legitimate concern, as far as I'm concerned - that a Medicare-reform plan would encourage employers to not do their responsibility to their former retirees. This bill addresses that. Two out of every three seniors are now covered by some form of private coverage, and the bill addressed the issue, to make sure that that coverage is still a viable alternative in the marketplace. ...
How Your Representatives Voted on Medicare Reform
Illinois
Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat: No.
Senator Peter Fitzgerald, Republican: Yes.
Representative Lane Evans, Democrat: No.
Iowa
Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican: Yes.
Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat: No.
Representative Jim Nussle, Republican: Yes.
Representative Jim Leach, Republican: Yes.
We've got a great health-care system because of our docs - well-trained, decent, caring people who practice medicine. We've got a great health-care system because of our nurses who work hard to provide compassionate care. We've got the best research in the world. We're on the leading edge of change in America.
But we've got to keep the system vibrant. ...
In recent years, Medicare has not kept up with the advances of modern medicine. In other words, it hasn't met the trust that the federal government has promised to our seniors. Remember, when Medicare was passed in 1965, health care meant house calls and surgery and long hospital stays. And the system was designed to meet the health-care delivery systems of the day. Modern medicine today now includes preventative care, outpatient procedures, and at-home care.
Many invasive surgeries are now unnecessary because of the new prescription drugs that are being developed. Many Americans have coverage for these new forms of health care, and that's positive, and we need to keep it that way. Seniors who rely exclusively on Medicare do not have the coverage for many of the new treatments and do not have coverage for prescription drugs - in other words, medicine changed and Medicare didn't. And as of today, Medicare is changing.
Let me give you an example of the need for modernization. ... Medicare is willing to pay $28,000 for a hospital stay for ulcer surgery. They won't pay the $500 for the anti-ulcer drugs that would keep the senior out of the hospital in the first place. ... It doesn't make any sense to pay $28,000 at the end of the process, but not the $500 up front to keep the $28,000 from happening in the first place.
Medicare should cover medications to keep our seniors out of hospitals. The new bill does this. The important part of the reform is to recognize that medicine has changed. It will save our government and the taxpayers money by providing prescription drugs early so we don't have to pay for it in long hospital stays and invasive surgeries.
Most seniors have got some form of prescription-drug coverage from a private plan, and that's important. It's a fact of life here in America. Those plans, however, are becoming less available. We've got to make sure the private sector remains vibrant. The bill I'm about to describe to you does that.
Medicare was very slow to take advantage of new medical advances, besides prescription drugs. In other words, you had to go through a bureaucracy in order to get certain procedures covered. Bureaucracies don't move very quickly. They tend not to be very sympathetic organizations. They're not consumer-driven. They're process-driven. They're hidebound by rules and regulations. ...
The Medicare plan that I'm going to sign understands that a lack of competition meant that there was no real need to provide innovation. And so we're helping to change the system by giving seniors more options and more choices. ...
This new Medicare bill I'm going to sign says seniors are plenty capable of making choices themselves. ...
It's going to take a while for this piece of legislation to kick in. It's going to take about two years to get all the reforms in place. But within six months of the law being signed, our seniors will start to see real savings in health-care costs because seniors will be eligible for a drug discount card that will save them between 10 to 25 percent off their regular drug costs. And low-income seniors will receive up to $600 a year to help them with their drug costs in addition to the card. Their card will serve as a transition to the reforms that are inherent in the Medicare legislation.
When the full drug benefit arrives in 2006, all seniors will be eligible for prescription-drug coverage for a monthly premium of about $35. The result is that for most seniors without coverage today, the Medicare drug plan will cut their annual drug bills roughly in half. That's positive news for America's seniors. ...
Seniors with the highest drug bills will save the most. Seniors with the greatest need will get the most help. Low-income seniors will pay a reduced premium or no premium at all, and lower or no co-payments for their medications.
Under the new reforms, seniors, as I mentioned, will have choices. You see, some seniors don't want to choose, and I can understand that. ...
And so should seniors want to stay in traditional Medicare and receive a prescription-drug benefit, they will now be able to do so. That's one of the key reforms in the bill. But other seniors want to choose, they want to be able to make a selection based upon their own particular needs. Some might want protection from high out-of-pocket medical expenses. Some might want expanded coverage for hospital stays. Some might want to be able to pick a plan that better meets their own individual needs. Under this law, choices will be better available for our seniors, and that's an important part of reform.
Because, you see, when seniors, or any citizen, makes a demand, the system responds. If there is a demand-driven system, it means the doctor-patient relationship is going to be more firm, and it means people will have better choices to meet their own particular needs. Some seniors may want the coverage that comes with managed-care plans, Medicare-plus-Choice. ...
In other words, people will have more control over their health-care options, and health-care plans will start competing for their business, and that's positive - positive for the consumers, positive for the seniors of America.
There are other important reforms in this bill. When seniors sign up for Medicare, they will get a complete health examination, so that doctors can know their health needs from the start. We're finally beginning to focus on preventative care. It makes sense to include preventative care in any health-care reforms. And health-care providers here know that better than anybody.
The bill provides incentives for companies to keep the existing coverage they provide for senior retirees. There was some concern in Washington - a legitimate concern, as far as I'm concerned - that a Medicare-reform plan would encourage employers to not do their responsibility to their former retirees. This bill addresses that. Two out of every three seniors are now covered by some form of private coverage, and the bill addressed the issue, to make sure that that coverage is still a viable alternative in the marketplace. ...
How Your Representatives Voted on Medicare Reform
Illinois
Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat: No.
Senator Peter Fitzgerald, Republican: Yes.
Representative Lane Evans, Democrat: No.
Iowa
Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican: Yes.
Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat: No.
Representative Jim Nussle, Republican: Yes.
Representative Jim Leach, Republican: Yes.
